Democratic Northwest. [volume] (Napoleon, Ohio) 1869-1894, 1887-01-20

this country vere. ......-.... .sls.7is4s1 81
Tax paid on /, by the people -. 5i,75s'9ts ~
Iron and steel total valuation 10. ...- 31,3194H 81
Tax paid on & iiOlS,9is ~
Tlx paid on il ... asss, ,asa s.
Cotton Sn1t. total valuation 20 o296,y7l Is
Tax paid .u them ...........-. II ,T2,906 81
Flax and heinn total valuation ... So. 2ts70,s93 OF
laA nhd on u .......... 1,496,9s9 50
WOOL snh wooen goods ....- 5i33n, ,723 As
lax Dsid on " .,.... ... ~ .63S 90
Ohemicals and dycs, valuation .. .... lsTa6 ss7 5?
Tax paid on 1t 4r3iI, ,sss 05
Here are seven articles, necessaries of
life, absolutely necessary for every
working man and family, with total
valuation ofS243, ,265, ,935 40, upon which
tax was last year paid of S124, $685.
562.39. The last monthly report of the
secretary of the treasury shows but $685.
O00,O of public debt which is due
and remains unpaid; that there is
money enough to pay that, and still the
surplus continues to pour into the
treasury vaults. Some say pay off the
bonds. That cannot be done because
they are not due, the greater portion of
them, for twenty years vet. Besides
that, is 1t wise policy to wipe out your
national banking system all at once,
and can it be done without disturbing
every business interest in the country?
Others propose to loan the money to
the national banks at per cent. inter-
est per annum, and let them put it into
circulation by loaning it to their
customers at six. or eight per cent
That is nice idea, and would probably
be acceptable to the banks. But let me
ask the Democrats of Ohio, and the Re-
publicans, too, if they are willing to
have their money taken out of their
pockets at the rate of fifty millions o
year without any purpose at all except
that 1t may be turned over to the veal
thiest bankers of the country for
speculative purposes. Is this parental
government? Who are the sovereigns?
Are the people the sovereigns, or are
the office holders public servants who
are employed for brief period to repre-
sent the people and execute their will?
Do the people need guardians in this
country to take care of their own money
and lock it up for four years in the
treasury vault, and then turn it over to
somebody else at their own free will
and pleasure? I have a profound re-
spect for a political party, which, when
in power, will levy all the taxes on the
people needed for an economical ad-
ministration of the government and no
more, and I have a profound contempt
for the opinions of any Democrat,
whether in public or private life, who
is a Democrat for revenue only. 1t is
said that you cannot reduce the tax on
these necessaries of life without destroy
ing our manufacturing interests in
Pennsylvania. Within the past year it
has been developed that pig iron can be
produced in Alabama and Tennessee
for nine dollars per ton, and shipped
by rail to Plttsburg and sold at profit
of fourteen dollars per ton, which is
less money than it can be produced for
at the furnace in Pennsylvania. I fail
to see how any protective system, how
ever high it may be, can protect the
product of one State in this Union
against the product of another State
Capital is now flowing from Pennsyl-
vania, New York and New England to
the Southern States, and is being re-
invested there because the iron pro-
ducer finds iron ore, limestone, coal
and timber all in sight on the same
mountain side; because the cotton
WhtuICI CtLiIIttc
and natural heat, instead of artificial
heat to aid him in the production of
calico, and because they all save the
cost of transporting the raw material to
the factory. What our manufacturers
in the Northern States need more than
anything else is greater and more ex-
tensive market for their agricultural
impliments, and everything they pro-
duce; for greater market is the only
relief he will ever find against his COM
petitors in the South, which their great
leader, Mr.. Kelly, of Pennsylvania, has
just said possesses superior natural ad-
vantages."
Whenever Democrat raises his voice
in favor of revising the inequalities of
an unjust tariff system, which the Re
publican party as we'll as the Demo-
cratic party has conceded needs re-
vision, he is Immediately called free
trader; but did ever any Democratic
President recommend free trade in his
message? Not one. Did ever any
Democratic Secretary of the Treasury
recommend free trade in his report?
Never. If there is single manu-
facturer in the United States who can
not carry on his business successfully
without the aid of national legislation
to help him rob his customers, he
ought to quit that business and turn
his attention to some other pursuit.
The very genius and spirit of the con-
stitution, indeed the very letter of the
constitution of Ohio requires that taxa
ton must be equal and just, and fall
equally on the shoulders of all the peO-
pie. That private property can only
be taken for public uses, and not for
private purposes and individual aggran-
dizement. This was the Jeffersonian
idea, in the very beginning of our
existence. If we Democrats claim to
be the disciples of Jefferson and jack
son in the Interpretation of great
principles, we should follow the teach
ings of Jefferson and jackson, or
abandon the claim. Taxation of any
kind in times of peace is resorted to
only for purposes of governmental sup
port. confined to that legitimate and
just purpose only, we shall have pure
ballot, fair count, honest elections, no
corruption in high places and free
country. But If the people of the
United States continue to permit their
representatives In congress to take from
their pockets many million dollars a
year without any purpose whatever ex-
cept to increase the dividends of mill
lionairs and monopolies already gorged
with ill-gotten wealth, then you will
have repetition of Credit Mobilier and
Star Route frauds, panics and bank
runtev The 1ahOrinp man will find